New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1887-08-12
THE EXTINCTION OF IVES.
HIS FIRMS LONG EXPECTED ASSIGNMENT
COMES AT LAST
HE PLACES HIS LIABILITIES AT TWENTY MILLIONS
AND TALKS ABOUT BIG AssETs-THE EFFECT IN
WALL STREET NOT KNOWN, AS THE FAIL
URE WAS ANNOUNCED JUST AT THE
CLOSE OF BUsINt ss-wHAr DIF-


CLOSE OF BUsiNt ss-wHAT DIF-
FERENT PEOPLE SAY.
The long expected announcement that Henry s.
Ives g. Co. had made an asst znment was made
few minutes before the close of business yester-
day. For the first time in the history of the
Stock Exchange failure was hailed with cheers
from all sides. The letter from the firm did not
contain the clause customary under similar cir
cumstances that the firm had no outstanding con-
tracts at the board for the simple reason that
the firm has never done large brokerage busl-
ness and in the last few weeks could not have
made any contracts II it had wished to do so.
The announcement was well timed, however, and
before the effect was scnsibly felt by the market
the fall Of the chairman's gavcl ended business
for the day. The assignment, which filed in
the County Clerks Office about the same time
it was announced from the rostrum of the Stock
Exchange, was In the usual form. 1t was general
and without preferences. The assignee is William
Nelson Cromwell, of the law firm Of Sullivan
q Cromwell, Drexel Building, who have been
in the employ of the Cincinnati, Hamilton and
Dayton Railroad and recently of the firm which
has had control Of the railroad company.
The failure was q remarkable contradiction OF
the trite saying that il is always the unexpected
which happens in Wall Street 1t had been ex-
pected for a long time by everyone who was ac-
quainted with the origin and condition OF the
firm. Henry S. IVES the senior partner, is a
young man who had had somewhat chcckered
career clerk and outside broker before he
established the firm since made famous by his
chimerical enterprises. His record was SO un-
savOry that, when young son Of Professor
Doremus Joined the firm few weeks after he
was admitted to the Stock Exchange, the Gov
erning Committee was obliged to take refuge
behind an old law about detrimental partnerships.
Thirty days were given to young MIR. Doremus IN
which to dissolve the connection on penalty OF
indefinite suspension. lie accepted the alternative
probably because he had been so carefully bound
by the copartnership agreement that he could not
escape it. Last spring he was renstatcd after
several futile attempts, and Donald MaclIay,
former president of the Exchange, was exceedingly
active in advocating his cause. The chief ground
for the action was the assurance that the hrm
had plenty Of money and at that time was Oh tho
point of securing the control OF the baltimore
and Ohio Railroad. la the meantime George III.
Stayner who was alleged to be the moneyed man
of the firm, bought scat In the Exchange put
he was told in SO emphatic way that he could
not possibly be elected that he withdrew MS
application before it was acted on
| There is little doubt that the reinstatement OF
| Mr. Dorcmus gave the firm a position In the
! financial world which il never otherwise would
partner had been known in Wall Street Tor
| many years, chiefly from his connection with tho
! American Bank Note Company. His last previous
| partnership was with Eirl & Dayton, TO when
| he contributed n special capital OF sloO,ooo. lo
is reported that when the firm was dissolved he
was considerably indebted to Christopher Meyer,
the wealthy rubber manufacturer of New-BrunS-
| wick n j., who has since become prominent ny
| his connection with Ives 81 Co.'S affairs. Inc
amount to which he has become involved may
| only be guessed, but he is admitted to be the
| largest creditor of the firm He succeeded Mr..
Ives as vicepresident Of the Cincinnati, Hamilton
and DAYTON railroad, and he has been specially
active in the attempt TO form a syndicate 10
control this and other railroad properties noml-
nally owned by Ives .S Co. The proposed syndl-
| cate consists at present of the creditors oi the
broken firm whose interest Is somewhat lnVoiuh-
| tary at least. The new capital which il has been
| attempted to enlist stands aioof until the real
condition of the Cincinnati, Hamilton and Dayton
and its allied companies may he clearly seen
| The fate OF the firm has little TO do with inc
negotiations which depend entirely, 1t is believed,
| on the value OF the railroad companies. The
| creditors of the frm and especially those most
closely entanged in its affairs, naturally eager
to form the syndicate on any terms that may
give them relief Aside from them the syndicate
| is purely figment of the imagination There Is
| no doubt that new buyers might be found for the
railroad properties, but not on the basis of paying
! the loans or assuming the other obligations OF
every kind of the recent management
THE CONDITION OF THE BROKEN FIRM.
The liabilities and assets of the firm are no'
| definitely known. Mr.. Ives sad III reply % al
| inquiry about them:
You may put down the liabilities at $50,
oOO 600 and the assets well, say S21,O00OO0."
| There is good reasoo TO believe that the state
| ment of liabilities was much nearer the actua
6,ures than the second one will be proved to be.
From what is known the liabilities may be put in
this way: William Fellowes Morgan & Co.,
So OOO 900; Alfred Sully, as the representative OF
the Corbin interest, 100000. and personally Tor
cash advances about $1C0.0OO; Rns'eH Sage,
| S35O,OOC; Kesser Co, S3oo.oooi the
americon National Bank, $4,000; toe
Farmers Loan and Trust Company. Sloo'ooo'
and the Bank Of the State Of New-York $4,000;
The First National Bank of Cincinnati. L.. B. barr.
| %, nresident S75O,O0O, and Irving A. Evans. OF
| Ro,ton for himself aud other Eastern creditors,
S2oO moo The amounts due TO the companies
recently controlled by the firm are not so EVIDENT
for the exact relations of the firm to The different
compapt,t have not yet been ascertained. There
- in tb. first place the $4,000 900 preferred stock
Of ,be Cincinnati. Hamilton and Day ton Company,
for vbich the company received no conslderat1oii'
! Th.re Is also al issue of 100000 bonds by Tie
same company. In the recent purchase oil tue lcrre
Uautc and Indianapolis the transactions were such
| that the company ID och0N'" w "" o.
creditor TO the extent of $1.75o,00o Similar Trans
oc,ions with the DAYTON an Michigan, the Nlnerai
| panga ,oI other sm all companies that have been
| r,d.r the Ives management have resulted IN their
| h.i,y creditors to amounts ranging from Sooo.oOo
IA 81 600 900 apiece. The total liarlllties thete-
fore are easily $1,000. 900, and they my exceed
even the figure namel bg Mr.. Ives himself NO
account in the above computation has been made or
the interest of Christopher Meyer, who probably
hos Lceu secured by the securities issued from tho
,,aa.n,iss Of the different companies. Fhe amount
NAV he swollen or reduced as further eNamlna-
ram Of the affairs of Ives & Co. is made. Under
any circumstances the mere suggestion that the % ii, =
yIi;ti.s ight reach twenty millions startled wall
oIit' it had heru partlv preparel for the